Sacrifice
by JesStarr
Summary: Claire regains consciousness and finds herself kidnapped by the one person she truly hates. Leon is on his way to rescue her, but has he met his match? *Cleon oneshot* *Warning: Character death*


**A/N: Hey guys! :D Since I had loads of views on my other Cleon story, I decided to stick this one on here too. **

**I'm not too sure on the title, but it'll do for now I guess. I've been told that maybe this one could carry on, either as a two-shot or a story in general, but I'm not sure yet.**

**I meant it to be a oneshot when I wrote it, but if you guys feel differently, I'd like to hear it. R&R please, and always, hope you enjoyed it, thanks for reading! :) **

* * *

Claire's eyes drifted open, her vision was blurry and distorted as she tried to drag herself back to consciousness. The back of her head stung and was throbbing like mad, she tried to reach up and cradle it with her hands but found them restrained.  
Her gaze dropped to her wrists, seeing them bound to the arms of the chair she was sat in, the rope was tight against her soft skin, causing it to redden as she tried to struggle out of it.  
_'Damn it, this isn't working!'_  
She tried to stop herself from panicking, but it had been a while since she was in this kind of situation. Her sapphire eyes scanned around her, trying her best to recognize the place, but it was near impossible. The room was not quite pitch-black, but it was very dark, and she appeared to be the only person in the room, which gave her an uneasy feeling. She made out the faint outline of what looked like a door, opposite her, at the far-end of the room, but until somebody came through it, she couldn't be entirely sure. It was then, she noticed that her mouth was also taped-up, preventing her from speaking.  
_'Yelling for help, more like,'_ she thought. Whoever had done this, was a pro, no doubt about that.  
Ignoring the hammering pain in her head, she tried to focus, tried to remember the last thing before waking up here.

**- flashback -**

She was chopping vegetables when she heard a muffled noise, her ears pricked up, listening intently as she stopped cutting, keeping a firm grip on the kitchen knife in her hand.  
_'… It's too early to be anyone yet,'_ her thoughts stated, and she concealed the knife down by her side as she went to investigate, making sure to move stealthily; she didn't want to be detected any more than they did. Whoever 'they' were.  
She crept silently to the bottom of the stairs, giving the living-room a quick peek to check no one was in there. Satisfied with the downstairs, she began to tread a careful path up the stairs, one-by-one, cursing herself inwardly for not carrying her gun on her at all times.  
_'You shouldn't have to anymore, you're done with all that,'_ her inner voice piped up again, and she really wished it would stop with all the smart comebacks, now was not the time.  
She reached her bedroom door, and saw that it was closed shut.  
_'That's not how I left it…'_ She took a deep breath before turning the knob and pushing the door wide open, giving her a full look into the room.  
It was empty.  
Hesitating for a moment, she shook her head, telling herself to get a grip, and walked into the large room. A window was wide-open, the curtain blowing mercifully in the wind, and she walked over to close it, gasping when she heard a cracking sound under her step.  
She retracted her foot immediately, seeing that a framed photograph was lying face-down on the floor.  
_'Wind must have blown that over too,'_ she bent down and retrieved the photo, turning it face-up to see the damage.  
It wasn't too bad, thankfully, nothing a new frame wouldn't fix, and she thumbed over the people in the picture, a slight smile tugging the corners of her lips.  
It was a picture of her, Leon and Sherry, taken not long ago, and a nice photo it was too. It was the first-time all three of them had been together, face-to-face, in years, and she remembered how proud she'd felt that Sherry had turned into such a strong woman, after the horrid ordeal of Raccoon City. She also remembered, blushing when Leon had urged Sherry to tell her that she modelled herself after her.  
Replacing the precious item on the dresser, she spared one last glance at it before closing the window.  
She was about to return to her task in the kitchen, when a glimpse of someone appeared behind her in the reflection of the window.  
Before instinct could kick in, she was knocked hard on the back of the head with a heavy object, her forehead connecting with the dresser on the way down as well, before crashing to the floor, black swamping her vision.

**- end flashback -**

_'Well, I'm not a strong person right now, am I?'_ she scolded herself somewhat bitterly, her feeble efforts with the rope restraints on her arms, proving to be a useless feat.

"Come now dear, don't even try to struggle. You're not going anywhere." An all too familiar voice drawled out, and she jumped slightly, her whole body standing on edge. She knew this man all too well, and she loathed him with every fibre of her being.  
The figure stepped out of the shadows; a tall man, dressed in all black, wearing his signature black sunglasses, his blond hair slicked back, and a grin on his face; Albert Wesker.  
He was enjoying her predicament, revelling in the fact that she was here because of him, and that she was so easy to capture in the first place.  
"For a Redfield, I'm disappointed that you didn't put up a fight. I expected more from you, Claire." He paused and shook his head slightly, "No matter, Mr. Kennedy will make up for that, I'm sure."

Claire's eyes widened at the mention of Leon, and Wesker just chuckled, lowering his face close to hers. "Come on now, you didn't think he wouldn't come for you, did you Claire?"  
She could feel his warm breath over her skin, making her want to wretch. The man was vile, he was poison. But even so, she didn't to believe what he was saying.  
"How silly of you." He carried on, smirking from the discomfort she was feeling under his close scrutiny. "You should know by now that he'd drop everything to save you if you were in harm's way."  
As if on cue, a blinding bright light seeped into the dark room through the closed blinds behind her, and Wesker leaned closer to her, whispering in her ear.  
"Show-time."

* * *

"Alright listen to me," Leon addressed his accompanying partner Rob, "I'm going in there alone to get Claire out. The second she comes out of that place, I want you to get her in this helicopter and protect her, understand me?" His tone was assertive and his face held a serious expression; it always did when she was in danger.  
Seeing Rob nod at him, he stepped towards the pilot, "After we get down there, make sure to land away from the place, this thing is gonna get ugly. If I'm not out in 10 minutes, I want you to take off without me, as long as her and Rob are on here. Am I clear?"  
"But, Agent Kennedy-"  
"Promise me." He cut off the Pilot's protests, his voice stern and his gaze narrowed on him.

The Pilot nodded and Leon moved beside Rob again, taking the rope in his gloved-hands, he slid down it effortlessly, his feet hitting the ground with a soft thud. His partner Rob followed his lead, taking out his handgun and holding it at the ready. His job was to back Leon up if necessary, as well as get Claire into the copter, like he'd ordered.  
Leon ran stealthily to the barred door, taking a deep breath, before ramming his shoulder into it, not bothering to wait for his partner to catch up. The door buckled under his aggressive act, and flung wide open, Claire immediately coming into his view.

_'At least she's unharmed,'_ he thought, wasting no time in crossing the room, his handgun equipped and loaded, ready for the unexpected.  
He reached her side, and laid a hand comfortingly on her shoulder, reassuring her that he's here now, and everything will be okay. His blue gaze swept over her face, sensing her current vulnerability. He glanced quickly to his partner who was stood guard in the doorway, still armed, and Leon holstered his own gun, reaching for his knife instead.  
He cut the ropes restraining her wrists and ankles to the chair, leaving her to take care of the tape herself, and gently touched the gash on her forehead; it looked like it would need a few stitches.

Despite the tape was gone from her mouth, Claire still found herself unable to say anything. She was beginning to feel woozy from the wounds to her head, and the way Leon had busted the door in, causing him to be illuminated against the bright light coming from outside had left her speechless. Of course she knew he'd come for her, he always had, and undoubtedly always will.

She half-threw herself, half-collapsed into his chest, her fists balling into his shirt, trying to pull him closer to her than humanly possible. She was relieved to be in his arms, safe again. But that feeling was short-lived, as he gripped her shoulders and put some distance between them.  
"Claire, this is Rob, he's going to take you back to the helicopter and keep you safe. You'll be alright, I promise-"  
"No Leon, he's still here," she whispered, her voice cracking a little, tears beginning to build up in her eyes.

He glanced around the dark room briefly, catching a glimpse of red eyes, before focusing his attention on Claire once again. She was his main priority at the moment. "Claire," his tone was soft as he stared into her blue eyes, and tucked a stray strand of auburn hair neatly behind her ear. "It'll be okay. I'll take care of it-"  
She shook her head, "No, come with me please," she pleaded, an uneasy feeling forming in the pit of her stomach.  
_'Why would Wesker go to all this trouble, if he's just going to let me walk out of here?'_ she thought.

Leon kissed her forehead, the side without the nasty gash, it already looked pretty painful, and guided her towards Rob.  
She held onto his hand as tightly as she could, but eventually their grasps on each other slipped, and Rob escorted outside, leaving Leon alone in the dark space she'd been held captive in.  
Alone with Wesker.

Leon holstered his knife and took out his gun again, double checking the clip in it, before cocking the gun.  
Wesker stepped out of the shadows once more, a smug expression across his aged face.  
"Why did you take Claire, just to let her walk out of here free?" Leon questioned, taking aim at the man before him.  
Wesker chuckled evilly, "Why do you think?"  
"I'm in no mood to play games, Wesker," he warned, his eyes narrowing on the man he'd heard so many nasty things about. A man that he hated as much as everyone else.  
"Well, that's a shame, because I have," he checked the time on his wrist watch, "…7 minutes to spare."  
_'7 minutes?…'_ Leon thought, _'What does that mean?'_  
"But it'll take less to kill you."

* * *

Rob had just helped Claire into the helicopter, when several gun shots rang out, causing dread to spread throughout her body. She could hear her heartbeat loud in her chest, and she felt like calling out to Leon, willing him to emerge from the room, like he'd promised he would. He promised she'd be okay, but without him, she wouldn't be. She stood in the aircraft, her hopeful eyes fixed on the place she'd been contained in, pleading inwardly for him to walk out.

Rob aimed his gun towards the area, debating whether to wait another few minutes before investigating. A single gun-shot sounded, and after a moment's silence a silhouette stepped out of the small structure, walking casually away from the scene.

But he wasn't walking towards the helicopter either, and that worried Claire intensely.  
The figure turned and waved towards them, his words travelling over the grounds and echoing in her ears.  
She could feel her heart heavy in her chest, and her legs numbing; she wanted nothing more than to drop to her knees and cry out.  
"See you again soon, Mrs Kennedy. My condolences about your husband."

* * *

**A/N: Thanks again for reading! R&R please :D**


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